Audiovisual ITU Video

• Christmas Breakfast

• Christmas Dinner

  • Breads

    • Yorkshire Pudding

  • Christmas Beef

  • Christmas Casseroles

  • Christmas Desserts

    • Christmas Cake

    • Christmas Cookies

    • Christmas Pies

    • Christmas Pudding

  • Christmas Goose

  • Christmas Lamb

  • Christmas Pasta

  • Christmas Pork

  • Christmas Turkey

  • Side Dishes

    • Cranberries

    • Sauces

      • Gravy

    • Soups

    • Stuffing

    • Vegetables

      • Potatoes

• Christmas Eve Snacks

• Drinks

  • Christmas Wine

• Hanukkah

Christmas Stuffing

A mother with four school-aged children, Mrs. Leta R. Porter, wrote a number of poems which they could use as recitations at school Christmas concerts. The following one was written for our chubby young son. He got it off well and created a big laugh. Because of its success, Mrs. Porter decided to share it with readers of the Farm and Ranch Review in 1930.

Christmas Recitations

I’ll tell you a tale of a very small boy with an appetite large in proportion:

When Christmas time came he ate all he could hold, even ate to the state of distortion.

On turkey and pie and cranberry sauce,

on pudding and cake and much candy, With oranges, apples, popcorn and nuts, he stuffed on whatever came handy.

Now flesh has a limit; most folk will agree, though the spirit be ever so willing; ‘Twas really surprising how one little boy could hold such a lot at one filling.

The night came at last; his endurance ebbed fast; the feasting and merriment ended.

Then came a suggestion of punishing pains in a tummy too tightly distended.

“Oh, Gee!” sighed the boy, “It’s a whole year again, I must wait for what Santa will send me, And Mother, I’m tired; so put me to bed.

But whatever you do, don’t BEND me!”

Cranberry Sauce

This recipe, attributed to a Mrs. McLaren, comes from the High River Cook Book, published by the Ladies Aid of Chalmer’s Church in 1907.

• 1 ½ quarts of cranberries pressed through a colander,
• 1 ½ quarts of chopped onions,
• 2 lb. of brown sugar,
• 1 ½ tablespoonfuls of salt,
• ¼ cup vinegar,
• 1 tablespoonful each of ginger, cloves, allspice and cinnamon.

Boil until thick.

Christmas Fig Cake

Mrs. W H. Todd’s recipe for fig cake also appeared in the High River Cook Book.

• 1 cup of butter creamed,
• 1 ½ cups of sugar,
• 1 cup of milk,
• 3 cups of flour,
• 3 level teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted with flour (sift flour three times),
• 4 egg whites

Bake in two layers.

Add to the remainder the yolks of two eggs, ½ cup each of raisins and currants, a sprinkle of sliced citron, one grated nutmeg, one-half teaspoonful each of cinnamon and cloves, two tablespoonfuls of molasses and one-quarter of a cup of flour. Bake in a tin the same size as other layers and put together with the following fig filling: Chop one pound of figs, add one-half cup of sugar and one cup of water, stew until soft and smooth. Spread between layers and ice the top with chocolate icing.

• Carols

• Decorations

• Holiday Travel

• Hymns

• Nativity

• Parties

• Poems

• Traditions

Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all were proceeding to register for the census, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which was called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary who was engaged to him, and she was with child.

And it came about while they were there; the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

In the same region there were some shepherds, staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an Angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the Glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the Angel said to them:

Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David, there has been born for you, a savior, Who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in clothes, and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased.

And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.

And they came in haste and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as He lay in the manger. And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all they had just heard and seen, just as been told them.

And when eight days were completed before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord as it is written in the Laws of the Lord, every first-born male that opens the womb shall be called Holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon Him. And it had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he has seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, and he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said “Now Lord, Thou dost let thy bondservant depart in peace, according to thy word; for my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou has prepared in the presence of all people, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.

And His mother and father were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother “Behold, this Child is appointed for the rise and fall of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed-and a sword will pierce even your own soul-to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with a husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of 84. And she never left the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayers. And at the very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. And the Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

• Christmas

  • Biblical Passages

    • Christmas Prayers

  • Christmas Entertainment

    • Christmas Movies

    • Christmas Music

  • Christmas Eve

  • Christmas Nativity

    • Bethlehem

    • Christ Child

    • Jerusalem

    • Joseph Son of David

    • Magi Wisemen

    • Shepherds

    • Star of Bethlehem

    • Virgin Mary

  • Christmas Past

  • Christmas Poems

  • Christmas Spirit

  • Christmas Traditions

  • Cultural Diversity

  • Santa Claus

• Diwali

• Eid Al-Fitr

• Hanukkah

• Kwanzaa

• Sinterklaas

Long ago His mother, looking with fear into the future, had seen her King dashing His strength against that mighty Empire that was the strength of the world. Already His battle was won. He had chosen the little ones of earth and marked them for His own. Their strength was His, a power that the world could not withstand. Through all the night His Spirit went through the land, touching the souls of little children. And as they stirred they waked the soul of earth, for earth is ever very near to the new born one’S and listens to their very breathing. And earth heard the singing of its little ones who had seen their God.

Unto us a Child is born! …they sang.

Then earth listened in earnest, for this was the song of Life itself. And Life is the business of earth. Then the heart of the grey old earth, which had not sung since the day when man first sinned, was lifted to sing: and it sang:

Unto us a child is born!

Now the arms of mothers the world over felt a stirring where little ones lay wrapped from the cold. The joy of little ones, the song of the earth, was being sung into their hearts. And the hearts of the mothers of earth received the Child, singing:

Unto us a child is born!

In the morning, while yet shepherds watched, the Child awoke to the world. The night was gone. It was Christmas morn!

And the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of Love, which is Christmas, went from heart to heart about the world, bringing the glad tidings of great joy that were spoken by the Angel. Never a heart in all the earth was left unvisited that morning. But every heart and every soul was filled with gladness, for that Christ was in the world.

This is Christmas-Christ-tide.

It is not a time. It is not a season, nor an event. It is the breaking of the burr that contact with life makes around the hearts of men. Perhaps that burr is needful. Without it life might hurt too much. But once in every year the burr must be broken, that the love of Christ may enter into the heart.

Otherwise the heart becomes all a burr.

So, this is Christmas when the Child comes into the world to set the hearts of little children, and the heart of the old grey earth, and the hearts of men and women to singing that song which the angels taught to the hills of Bethlehem:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.

Sometimes He comes breaking into the heart on some stray recollection of the long ago. Again a chance dropped word gives Him entrance. Some hearts He can only enter when they are tired, tired to death, and when no other thing will come to them. To each according to his own way He comes. But to all, He comes, Love, Christ, Christmas…

Merry Christmas